Thornbridge Brewery ‘devastated’ by death of former employee as flagship beer is renamed in her honour

Thornbridge Brewery say they are ‘devastated’ after a former employee died of cancer just days before they renamed a beer in her honour.

Sheffield mum-of-three Jenny Walker – who was one of the brewery’s first employees – died earlier this week after being diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer in June this year.

The new pump label that will be on display on Friday.

Earlier this week, Thornbridge announced plans to rename their flagship Jaipur India pale ale JenPour for one day, donating all the proceeds from sales to Weston Park Cancer Charity.

However, in a statement released by the brewery today, they said their ‘dear friend’ wouldn’t be around to pull the first pint as planned.

The brewery also released a statement written by Jenny’s husband Michael.

He said: “For those of you who don’t know, Jenny died on Wednesday afternoon. She died at home, surrounded by her family.

“There’s no getting round the fact that this is an absolute tragedy. Our three incredible little girls, Nia (7), Cora (4) and Beth (1) have lost their mummy, and there’s no age at which that isn’t earth-shatteringly awful.

“I said when Elliott died in 2013 that up until then we had had so much good in our lives, we accepted that we had to take a share of some of the pain in the world. Well now it feels like we have all the pain in the world.

“It's impossible to sum her up, but if you knew her, you would have felt the difference her kindness, generosity and determination could make. She was incredible and I loved her from the moment I met her.

“All she ever wanted to be was a mummy. And she is, and she was, and she always will be.

“The Thornbridge Brewery JenPour event in her honour will take place today as planned. If you’re in Sheffield, buy a beer, think of Jen and proceeds will go to Weston Park cancer hospital.”

The brewery said they received so many messages of support from people all over the country they decided to make the JenPour raffle available online as well as in their pubs.

They also said they were ‘incredibly touched’ that Camden Town Brewery in London said that they too would donate the proceeds from their Cask of Jaipur and Kicking Horse UK beers to the fundraising effort.